“The most striking
anomaly of the Cold War was the existence of a divided Europe, within which
there resided a divided Germany, within which there lay a divided Berlin. No
one in Washington, Moscow, or anywhere else had sought such an arrangement, so
at odds with all previous standards of geopolitical logic. Few who witnessed
how it came about prior to 1949 would have expected it still to be in place as
late as 1989.”
Gaddis, John Lewis: We Now Know, Rethinking Cold War History,
(Oxford, 1997), p.115
Following the Second World War an occupied and divided
Germany had been banned from competing in the 1950 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. By
1952 three different German teams had been inducted into FIFA: East Germany,
West Germany and Saarland. Saarland, under French occupation, were the first to
be accepted in June 1950 just two weeks before the start of the World Cup
tournament in Brazil. West Germany were reintegrated later that year and, with
FIFA’s permission, accredited with the achievements of the united German side
of the early twentieth century. East Germany joined FIFA in 1952 and all three
teams had the opportunity to enter the qualification process for the upcoming
World Cup in Switzerland in 1954.
East Germany did not make it as far as qualification. Three
days after their first home game, a 0-0 draw with Bulgaria on June 14th 1953, a strike led by construction workers and former members of the Socialist
Democratic Party developed into an uprising against the occupying forces of the
Soviet Union. A semblance of order was brutally restored by Soviet troops but a
ban on large gatherings of Germans prevailed until 1954 which ostensibly
prevented international football matches from taking place. Understandably the
East German team did not enter the qualification rounds for the approaching
World Cup although officially there had been no plans for them to do so.
Both West Germany and Saarland entered the qualification
tournament for the 1954 FIFA World Cup and, due to their geographical
proximity, were drawn together in Group 1 alongside Norway. The Saarland squad
had a relatively limited pool of players from which to choose from. Although 1.
FC Saarbrücken had played in, and won, the French Ligue 2 in the 1948-49 season
they had subsequently been denied entry to the French Football Federation. They
were left to content themselves with friendly and cup games against stronger
European opposition rather than join the region’s considerably weaker
Ehrenliga. Despite Allied occupation West Germany had maintained a strong
domestic football structure and were thus able to call upon the best players from
across the regional Oberliga and the national German Championship tournament.
The first match in the group was between Norway and Saarland
in Oslo on June 24th 1953. Within fifteen minutes Norway were 2-0
ahead but goals from Herbert Binkert, Werner Otto and Gerhard Siedl led
Saarland to a famous victory. Following Norway’s 1-1 draw with West Germany in
August Saarland were top of the group heading to their first meeting with their
compatriots in Stuttgart in October. West Germany ran out convincing 3-0
winners thanks to two goals from the prolific Max Morlock. Saarland were reduced
to ten men due to an injury to Karl Berg in an era before second-half
substitutes were allowed although, strangely enough, they were permitted in the
first-half. Although Saarland drew 0-0 with Norway at home in November 1953 a
comprehensive 5-1 victory for West Germany against the latter left them needing
to beat the former when the two sides met in Saarbrücken in March 1954. West
Germany won 3-1 with Max Morlock again netting twice (and Saarland again having
a player injured in the second-half) and so booked their place in the upcoming
World Cup finals tournament in Switzerland.
The rest, as they say, is history as West Germany went on to
win the 1954 FIFA World Cup. However, it was by no means a straightforward
march to victory. After beating Turkey 4-1 in their opening fixture they were
pulled apart by a rampant Hungary side who followed up their 9-0 demolition of
South Korea to beat West Germany 8-3. With goal difference not in use to
determine the group’s final standings West Germany met Turkey in a play-off
which they won 7-2. After a comparatively low scoring 2-0 quarter-final win against
Yugoslavia, West Germany thrashed Austria 6-1 to set up a final against Hungary
who had scored 25 goals en route and were unbeaten in 32 games. After ten
minutes Hungary led 2-0 but West Germany equalised before half-time. Helmut
Rahn scored the winner with six minutes remaining to complete the ‘Miracle of
Bern’ although there was still time for a controversial disallowed equaliser.
Rumours still persist regading the West German team’s use of performance
enhancing substances and the legality of their equaliser but this was
undoubtedly a significant achievement for an occupied country unable to call
upon its best players from the south-west or the east and still recovering from
the devastation of the Second World War.
This was to be the last international tournament for which
three German teams were eligible. A plebiscite held in 1955 led to Saarland
becoming part of West Germany in 1957. The Saarland manager, Helmut Schön, went
on to manage the West German team in the 1966, 1970 and 1974 editions of the
FIFA World Cup where the team were runners-up, third and winners respectively.
The last of these was held in West Germany and it was also to be the first
significant meeting between East and West Germany on the football pitch. More
on that another time...
Road to the 2018 World
Cup: As well as
excellent facial expressions the Panini sticker book has revealed that many of
the world’s football stars are sporting some brilliant neck tattoos. Ricardo
Quaresma of Portugal, for example, seems to be doing his best impression of
Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. However, Belgium’s decision to omit Radja Nainggolan
from their final squad is nothing short of criminal to all fans of questionable
body art.